Gossip
by TheQueenoftheNight
Summary: Remus Lupin is failing arithmancy. Can a little help from Sirius Black help him? Or will it turn into something else? Fluffy, sweet, RS fun. Please R&R!


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! I just like to play with the characters sometimes. Forgive me for writing slash, JK, but it's for a good cause, and it's not graphic or dark or anything.

Dedication: This one-shot fic was written in honor of the birthday of my best friend, who goes by the screen name MoonyBlues on this website, and loves the Sirius/Remus pairing. Happy birthday Rachel! You're the best friend a girl ever had, so here's a little Sirius and Remus in commemoration of your twentieth birthday. It's nice and fluffy, but I think you'll like it. Enjoy!

Gossip

Remus Lupin slammed his books down on the table then threw himself into a chair moodily. "I hate it!" he fumed at no one in particular, startling Peter Pettigrew from his potions essay.

Peter looked up at him and frowned. "You're still having a problem with arithmancy, Moony?" he asked, his face lined with concern.

Remus gave a book on the table a prod with his wand, his face full of resentment. "I just can't get it, Peter. I just can't get the hang of it!"

He stood up absently and paced around the small table, poking various objects with his wand. Golden sparks flew out the end in his irritation, but Remus was too busy fuming to notice. "And Professor Woo doesn't help one bit. He just keeps telling me to read the textbook. Well I read the bloody textbook, and it doesn't make any more sense to me than ancient Greek!"

Remus sighed, but Peter could tell the other boy wasn't finished yet, so he didn't speak. "And of course James and Sirius excel at arithmancy, as they do in everything else...they're going to take the mickey out of me."

Remus flopped back into the chair and leaned his elbows on the table glumly. Peter wasn't sure what to say, as he rarely saw Remus in this sort of mood. Melancholy, yes, but irritated beyond all reason, no.

Fortunately for Peter, he was saved by the appearance of James and Sirius themselves. Sirius was singing a very rhythmic song by The Witches of Endor, and James was trying to dance to it as they bopped into the room, immediately tossing their bags and school supplies onto the couch by the opening to the Gryffindor common room. They looked a sight, and Peter laughed, but Remus only groaned and sank lower into the chair.

"Ooh baby, you really slay me with your dancin', dancin', dancin', yeah! You make my potion boil and my hexes miss their mark..." Sirius sang while shaking his hind end in a comically seductive manner. A 7th year girl raised her eyebrow and looked at him over her book before rolling her eyes and turning away.

James mimicked what Sirius was doing, adding in hand motions and some head bopping, as well as a "yeah" punctuating Sirius' strain of the music. "I hate that song," Remus muttered, pulling a book out of the stack on the table and trying to hide himself behind it.

"What's up, guys?" Peter asked, smiling widely. Sirius stopped singing long enough to grin cheekily at the smaller boy and say loudly, "it's the weekend, my lovely Wormtail, and we're due for a Hogsmead trip!"

Peter was about to remind Sirius that they indulged in Hogsmead visits anytime they darn well wanted to, but he remembered there were others in the common room.

James stopped dancing and walked over to Remus, an eyebrow raised. "Tally-ho my good man! Why art thou reading in the face of such great fortune?" he asked.

Remus sighed and put the book down. "I'm just not in the mood, James," he said, his brows creasing slightly in the middle. James studied the werewolf's face for a moment then loudly proclaimed, "arithmancy. It's still going badly, is it?"

Remus nodded, slightly irritated that he'd been found out. Sirius approached, his smile disappearing. "Is old Woo not helping you? Figures. Lousy prat. He has no idea how to teach! The only people who pass his class are the people who understand the textbook." James looked thoughtfully at the floor for a moment, then smiled. "You were a natural at arithmancy, weren't you Padfoot?" he asked.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I understood the textbook all right. Woo said I got top score on my OWLS. What are you thinking, James?" Sirius asked, knowing full well what James was thinking but not wanting to say it himself.

"You should tutor Moony, Sirius, it wouldn't take long for him to catch up I don't think."

Remus shook his head. "You don't have to do that, Sirius," he said with a frown, "I don't want to take up your time." Sirius waved a hand. "It really wouldn't be a problem. In fact, I would enjoy the opportunity to work on it again." He grinned one of his disarming, lop-sided grins.

Remus sighed and forced a smile. "Sure, thanks."

…

After some deliberation, Remus and Sirius agreed to meet twice weekly in an abandoned classroom - because then they wouldn't have James and Peter to distract them as they would in the common room, Sirius said - starting the following Monday after classes. The weekend flew by at a fevered pitch, leaving Sirius and James tired and draggled Monday morning when they got up for Quidditch practice at dawn.

"Why do you keep calling these practices at dawn, James?" moaned Sirius, pulling on the jeans he typically wore under his robes. James, who was Quidditch captain that year, yawned thickly.

"Morgenstern started it, I thought it was a good idea at the time..." he muttered.

On the way to the Quidditch pitch James reminded Sirius that his tutoring sessions with Remus began that day.

"I wanted to have a chat with you about that," James continued after his reminder.

"What about?" asked Sirius, his curiosity aroused.

James walked steadily, staring into the grey dawn. "Well, you'll be all alone with Moony, you know...I just wanted to advise you to be cautious, is all."

"What about?" Sirius repeated, still not sure what this was about. James shot him a look that said "you ought to know what I mean," but Sirius didn't have the foggiest clue what he was supposed to know.

"_What about_?" he repeated again emphatically.

"We don't know everything about Moony, Sirius. He's never told us very much," James said slowly. He raised an eyebrow, hoping Sirius would catch on this time, but the taller boy was still clueless, as even the most brilliant can be at times.

"What are you saying James?" Sirius asked, slight frustration apparent in his voice.

James sighed. "What I'm saying is watch what you do with him, because we don't know exactly where he's coming from...sexually."

Sirius stopped. "Sexually?" he asked incredulously, surprised that James' admonishment had absolutely nothing to do with arithmancy.

"Yes Sirius, you know what I mean. We don't know whether Remus likes boys or girls. We also know you tend to be a bit of a flirt with anyone who will stand still - don't deny it! - but you know, I know, you always end up with girls in the end, Sirius. Just, you know...watch that you don't lead him on is all."

James smiled, glad he had finally blurted it out. Sirius began walking again, his eyes taking in the shape of a large oak tree nearby, its supple branches and dark, twisted trunk.

"It's not like I'm going to seduce him, Prongs," he said.

"No, no, of course not," James agreed, then continued, "but you aren't alone with him all that much. And really, we were all wondering what you were thinking after last full moon." James' eyes twinkled.

Sirius snorted, "What?"

"Well, you did throw him down on the ground and lick him all over, you know."

James seemed to find a great amount of humor in this subject, which was unfortunately rubbing off on Sirius so that he was having a hard time keeping a straight face to answer. "Hey, hey," he laughed, "it's not like I can do that to you or Wormtail. You'd gore me to death and I'd eat Wormtail. Moony only made sense! He's practically canine."

James laughed outright.

"I can't help it if Padfoot has urges!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Suuuuuure, Sirius," James said with a wink. Both boys laughed, long and hard. Sirius didn't mind it being at his expense, really. At least the laughter was waking them up somewhat. After another moment of thought, Sirius spoke again. "Yeah, I'll watch it. I know Moony goes through a lot. I wouldn't want to lead him on if your queer radar is beeping."

James chuckled at the reference. "I'm not saying he's gay, Padfoot, I'm simply saying that we don't know."

Sirius smiled and put and punched the other boy playfully. "I know, I know, it's always best to take the advice of the amazing Prongs."

"Don't you forget it, either," James laughed.

…

Remus was slightly nervous about the first tutoring session, for reasons he couldn't quite define. He arrived in the empty classroom five minutes early, and seated himself at a dusty desk in the middle of the room. Sirius showed up all smiles and assurance three minutes later, and began the session with a brief review of the early chapters in the book.

It went well, both boys thought, easing into their roles of student and teacher quite nicely.

Sirius was sensitive to both James' admonition, as well as how easy it could be to make the other boy feel stupid and ignorant, something Sirius didn't want to do for the sake of their friendship. Remus progressed very nicely, having someone to explain the text to him, and being naturally studious and intelligent, he was soon caught up on the material, and Sirius only had to help him with the current lessons and homework. This freed up much of their time for talk, which each boy quickly found they enjoyed.

Sirius had never really known Remus Lupin well before, as they were always in the company of James, ever soaking up the lime-light in very much the same way Sirius himself did. The night before Remus' first post-tutoring sessions test was a frantic review of all the last chapters, and Sirius' constant assurances that the other boy would pass with flying colours.

"After all," Sirius said cheekily, "you've had me to teach you."

Remus wondered if they would continue with their regularly scheduled session the following night if he passed, or if Sirius would let him work on it on his own. Secretly, he almost hoped he would fail if the latter was the case, as he had come to value their talks almost as much as he appreciated his romps with the boys on the nights of the full moon.

Sirius said they would decide after the test, though he was entirely sure of his pupil's success.

The test came and went, Remus found he had not even the slightest difficulty, and sought out Sirius at dinner to tell him so. The dark haired boy was nowhere to be found, however, and Remus settled in a seat next to Peter, who was helping himself to liver tart.

"Emergency Quidditch practice," he said, anticipating the question before it was asked. "One of the chasers is in the hospital wing, badly scalded from misfired bubotuber puss in Herbology. They have to try to train a replacement chaser in three days." Remus' heart fell. There went all his hopes of a tutoring session that evening.

"Oh," he said, trying to conceal his disappointment.

Peter shrugged. "I offered to play chaser for them but James said my aim is still too bad." Peter looked a little sad, as he had always wanted the opportunity to play on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Remus smiled sympathetically, his own troubles forgotten for the moment.

…

The Quidditch practice went well into the evening, until the players were muddy and angry and completely exhausted. Remus watched them tromp off the field, tired and dejected. He decided to go for a quiet walk inside the castle, it was raining now and he loved to hear the clatter of the rain on the many turrets and windows.

The young werewolf strode past all the empty classrooms and into the great hall, which seemed vast in its emptiness, dark now that supper was over. He didn't know where he was going, only that his mind and feet were wandering of their own free will, until after about a half hour, he found himself in a front of a very familiar door.

Remus laughed at himself for showing up at the abandoned classroom he and Sirius shared, and decided to go in and sit down for a while to listen to the rain. He pushed open the door, and started when he saw a shape in the shadows, leaning against the teacher's desk carelessly and clutching a bottle of something deep red.

"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed.

"You're late," Sirius noted, grinning cheekily.

"I thought you were still in the showers from Quidditch practice," Remus said, "Peter said he figured you wouldn't be back for another hour or so."

"Clearly I am," Sirius grinned, extending the bottle. "Wine? In celebration of your stunning victory over arithmancy."

Remus laughed. "How did you know?" he asked, watching Sirius uncork the bottle with a quickly muttered spell.

"Oh, I have my ways," Sirius said mysteriously, then added with a wink, "the whole castle is crawling with my spies. I thought we'd celebrate tonight. No studying - just wine, and talk, if you like."

Remus was amenable to that. The two boys sat down on the floor of the classroom by the large window, which Remus opened to give them a little light, heedless of the light rain still pouring down.

"To arithmancy!" Sirius toasted, and then both boys drank long draughts from two glasses Sirius produced from his robes.

"How did practice go?" asked Remus.

Sirius groaned. "Terrible. We're never going to be able to beat Ravenclaw on Saturday. The only hope we have is of James getting the snitch very quickly."

"I wouldn't underestimate your powers as a keeper," Remus said with a smile.

Sirius laughed, and poured the other boy some more wine.

They continued to talk Quidditch for a while, drinking all the while, until there was a pause in the conversation. The wine was working its magic; Remus felt sufficiently relaxed to ask Sirius if he'd ever gone all the way, though he didn't know why he wanted to know. The question just burst out somehow.

"Eh?" asked Sirius, not sure if he'd heard the question right.

Remus yawned and sipped lazily from his glass. "I asked if you'd ever...you know...gone all the way before."

"I've been around a lot," Sirius said, stepping around the question, "I'm a pretty...well-rounded guy." "Uh- huh," Remus answered, his eyes twinkling. "You didn't answer my question though."

Sirius coughed. "I've been almost all the way. Um...did everything but the main deed, you know."

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"I've kissed lots of people, made out with a lot of girls," his voice lowered, "and a boy..."

Remus started. "You what?" he asked. "You said you kissed a boy?"

Sirius grinned. "Yeah...I did."

Remus' eyes widened. "Who?" he demanded.

Sirius giggled, half from the wine, half from the memory.

"Well, when Morgenstern was captain of the Quidditch team, there was this one time he made us have a strategy meeting at the Three Broomsticks...he felt that holding it there would help the team to pay attention to his long strategy lessons. Everyone left, including James...I forget why...and I was alone with Morgenstern."

Sirius grinned. "We drank in a corner, since Madam Rosmerta always has liked me and let me have real alcohol when no one was paying attention. Suddenly Morgenstern got this funny look on his face and he asked me if I'd ever kissed a boy before. I said no, so he asked me if I'd like to kiss him. It sounded like a good idea at the time," Sirius laughed, "so I leaned over and kissed him right then and there."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Was it good?"

"Oh yes," Sirius answered, grinning at the thought. "Better than kissing Amy Brownstone, that blonde Hufflepuff chaser...you know her..."

Remus, who had been slouching, suddenly sat up straight. "You kissed Amy?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sirius answered with an offhanded nod. "I made out with her."

"So did I!" exclaimed Remus, a little irritated to find that the only girl he'd ever really kissed had kissed Sirius also.

Sirius didn't seem to find this surprising at all. "Oh yeah, I think James has snogged her too."

"You don't mind sharing a girl with your best friend?" asked Remus, his left eyebrow cocked.

"Nah, I didn't share Morgenstern with him."

Both boys laughed. "Morgenstern was hot," Sirius continued with a smile. "I don't usually go for boys, but I could have gone for him. Everyone thought he was hot. Even old Snivelly seemed to fancy him."

Remus shook his head. "No, Snape is the personal sex slave of Lucius Malfoy...or was when Malfoy was still at school here. Probably still is."

It was Sirius' turn to be amazed. "Malfoy's personal sex slave!" he exclaimed. "How do you know this?"

"He told me," answered the other boy, "or he told Rosier in the toilet one day, and I just so happened to be in one of the stalls. He said he was still stiff and sore from his liaison with Malfoy the night before. I had to clasp my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing."

Sirius looked like his birthday had come early. "That's excellent! No wonder we could never pick on him properly with Malfoy around."

"Yes, I would assume Malfoy offered him a certain amount of protection in return," Remus agreed.

"What about you?" asked Sirius. "Have you only kissed Amy? Or have you ever...you know...gone all the way? Or kissed a drunk Quidditch player?"

Remus smiled playfully. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he asked.

"Actually, I would," Sirius admitted. "James told me not to flirt with you at our sessions because he wasn't sure if you...you know...liked guys or girls." Sirius closed his mouth suddenly, slightly shocked at himself for revealing that bit of information.

Remus only looked interested. "I haven't really thought about it," he replied vaguely. Only then did Sirius realize how very close they were sitting. He noticed the slight blush coming into his friend's cheeks, and he realized that he felt terribly hot.

"Would you _like_ to kiss a drunk Quidditch player?" he asked before he could stop himself.

Remus' eyes widened as Sirius stared into them. Huge, golden brown eyes, that reflected the light like two golden lamps. Was the wine working overtime, or was this attraction? Tentatively, he leaned forward and brushed his lips softly against the other boy's then pulled back.

Remus drew in a breath sharply...then grabbed Sirius' collar and pulled him towards himself, locking his mouth frantically onto the soft, curvaceous lips that had touched his only a moment ago. He ran his tongue across Sirius' bottom lip, then caught it lightly between his teeth. Their mouths locked, tongues lost between them. Sirius savored the other boy through the heady taste of wine, closing his eyes to allow his senses of taste and feel to rule.

Hands locked in his hair as Remus broke the kiss to grace the curve of Sirius' neck with small frantic butterfly kisses, and then pull back his shirt and lap at the alabaster skin of the shoulder blade.

Sirius gasped for breath, caught completely off guard. "My proposition was..." he drew in a quick breath, "acceptable, I take it?"

Remus pulled back and smiled at him, his face luminous in the moonlight.

"You have no idea."

Sirius noted to his pleasure that Remus was breathing hard as well, his lips were raw and red, and his whole body was poised in arousal.

"I think I've wanted to do that for a long time," Remus said, "but I didn't even know it myself."

Sirius nodded. "I think I have too."

Before he could speak again, those soft, pliable lips were on his once again, stealing his breath away and probing his mouth gently but insistently. Sirius was swallowed up in it, the aroma of the other boy's skin, the feeling of his lips and tongue, their bodies pressing against one another, the taste of wine, the sound of the rain, the swirl of colours and lights he saw behind his closed eyelids.

He pulled away and took a deep breath, grinning cheekily, and said, "We're definitely going to continue with our tutoring sessions, Remus."

Finis

Author's' notes: See? Fluffy, like the three-headed dog. I made Morgenstern up, so you can imagine him anyway you like, blond or dark or whatever, just as long as he's hot. ;) The boys are in sixth year in this fic, and yes, I don't usually write slash, so this one is a bit random. But over all, I think it's pretty spiffy.


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